Courtesy of CNN; JSquared Photography
Amazon Prime Video is developing a drama series based on the book “Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty” by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe, Variety has learned.
Patrick Macmanus, who previously created shows like “Dr. Death” at Peacock and “The Girl From Plainville” at Hulu, is adapting the book for the screen and will serve as an executive producer via Littleton Road Productions. Cooper will also executive produce the project, as will Kelly Funke of Littleton Road. UCP and Amazon Studios will co-produce. Macmanus is currently under an overall deal at UCP.
Per the official logline, the show is “an epic drama chronicling four hundred years of the rise and fall of one of America’s most powerful dynasties. From the family’s humble beginnings in New Amsterdam, patriarch Cornelius ‘Commodore’ Vanderbilt weaponized cunning, cutthroat business tactics to amass unimaginable wealth leading to power struggles between heirs over control, salacious scandals and financial ruin. That is, until Gloria, the last of the Vanderbilts, rises above her family’s complicated history, and personal tragedy to pave her own path as an artist and fashion designer.”
Cooper, who is currently an anchor at CNN and a correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes,” has written multiple books about his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt. She and he previously co-authored the book “The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss” in 2017. The two also worked together on the HBO feature documentary “Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper.”
Cooper is repped by UTA and Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Macmanus is repped by UTA, The Cartel and Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman.
Variety's Joe Otterson contributed to this post.
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/anderson-cooper-vanderbilt-family-series-amazon-1235574368/
